Attorney general collects $20M in 2011 Medicaid fraud

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster's office collected more than $20 million and took legal action against 26 providers for Medicaid fraud in 2011.

In 2011, Koster's office resolved criminal matters regarding 11 medical and home health care providers. Two individuals associated with the cases are serving prison time, and another seven would serve prison time if they don't meet the terms of their probation. Settlements were negotiated with the other two individuals, according to a Jan. 18 news release.

The attorney general's office also resolved civil cases against 15 providers, including a $500,000 settlement with St. Louis-based Beverly Hills Pharmacy, which allegedly submitted unlawful claims to the Medicaid program on a routine basis.

“Our criminal prosecutions and our recoveries of large sums of money serve as a warning to providers who would consider submitting false bills to Medicaid," Koster said in the release. "We are watching, and you will not get away with it.”

Locally, Koster and Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson jointly filed suit in August against Angela Deanna Adams, of Greene County, alleging she used her position as a personal care attendant through Springfield-based Southwest Center for Independent Living to defraud the state's Medicaid program, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Also in 2011, Koster's office filed a civil suit in August against a Mount Vernon dentist, Dr. Thomas Alms Jr., and his wife, Laura Alms, and a Joplin husband and wife, Robert Dupont Jr. and Laverne Dupont, who operated long-term residential care facility Joplin River of Life.

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